The Recall and Paycheck Protection
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger formally answered the recall petition put forward by CCPOA yesterday calling it an intimidation tactic by the prison guards union. He added, “It’s offensive that one special interest is using a recall to get more money.”
In the end, will there be just one public employee union that sees this as an opportunity to set their agenda in Sacramento or will others join in? If a number of public unions sign up, then Schwarzenegger might have a different response: bring back a paycheck protection initiative.
Schwarzenegger supported Proposition 75 on the 2005 special election ballot which, if passed, would have required public employee union members to approve in advance taking dues from their paychecks for union political activity. The measure lost 46.5% to 53.5%, but it came the closest to passing of any other Schwarzenegger backed initiative on the ballot that day.
What have they got to hide?
“Trailer bills” are legislation passed to ease implementation of the budget, such as bills to suspend cost-of-living increases or raise taxes or other revenues. But because they are numerous and voluminous, trailer bills are also convenient vehicles to slip in language that might not otherwise survive the legislative process.
So it comes to pass that buried within one of the dozen or so trailer bills, on page 57 of the 133-page AB 1389, is a provision that repeals the designation of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to be “the primary state agency responsible for facilitating economic development in the state.”
This bureaucratic face-slap may be of little consequence, except to note that the Legislature has been singularly unsupportive of state economic development leadership, having abolished the Trade and Commerce Agency earlier this decade after less than ten years in existence. (Disclosure: I was an official in the original Trade and Commerce Agency.) California has been struggling ever since to create a unified, effective voice on economic development. Removing that leadership designation from a member of the Governor’s cabinet certainly sends a discouraging signal, and may indicate even more dysfunction below the surface.
Three Years Later and Nothing Has Changed
Three years ago, just before the special election of 2005, I wrote the following article for the Capitol Weekly, Sacramento’s excellent newspaper of California politics and government. Think of it as our version of Washington’s Roll Call.
Not much has changed since I wrote this piece. If anything, things have gotten worse.
When will the people of California wake up from their political slumber and take back their government?
Thomas Jefferson once said, “If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, Assemblies, judges and Governors shall all become wolves”.
The Pork Express
Note: This post was co-authored with Tom Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste
For six years in a row, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and
the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation (HJTF) have published the
California Piglet Book to spotlight waste, fraud and abuse of
taxpayers’ dollars. Modeled after the Pig Book, an annual analysis
of Federal spending conducted by CAGW, we have found the state
Piglet an excellent method of embarrassing California officials into
better performance and a higher respect for the public’s money.
In a target rich environment, this year we have chosen to focus our
attention on the misuse of public transportation dollars.